Panayis Lyras
Professor of Piano and Artist in Residence
Phone: (517) 355-3813
E-mail: lyras@msu.edu
A native of Greece, Lyras attended the Athens Conservatory at age 6, and received his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Juilliard School. Winner of the Silver Medal in the 1981 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Lyras has been seen and heard by millions of television viewers on PBS and the Arts and Entertainment Network. He is also the first prize winner of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Utah, the University of Maryland International Piano Competition, the Three Rivers Piano Competition in Pittsburgh, and is a silver medalist in the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel.
Since his 1980 recital debut in the prestigious Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California, Lyras has performed solo recitals in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and many other cities across North America, including Boston, Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Denver, Houston, Portland, Sarasota, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver. His orchestral engagements have included performances with the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, the Buffalo and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston Pops, and the San Francisco, Dallas, Saint Louis, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Phoenix, Florida, Omaha, New Mexico, Nashville, New Jersey, Utah, North Carolina, Honolulu, and Pacific Symphony Orchestras. Internationally, Lyras has performed in England, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Mexico, South Africa, and Uruguay.
Deborah Moriarty
A Massachusetts native, she made her debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 11. She has also served on the piano faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Lowell. Moriarty attended the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, and the New England Conservatory of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree with honors. She has studied with Russell Sherman, Theodore Lettvin, and Beveridge Webster. An active recitalist and soloist with orchestras throughout the eastern United States, she has also performed in Belgium, Japan, Colombia, Mexico, and the Soviet Union. Moriarty is a founding member of the Fontana Ensemble of Michigan, and as an advocate of new music, has participated in numerous premiere performances including Milton Babbitt’s “Whirled Series” at Merkin Hall in New York City. She has recordings on the Crystal and CRI labels.
Ralph Votapek
Professor Emeritus of Piano
Phone: (517) 353-9115
E-mail: jenning3@msu.edu
He is the Gold Medalist of the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and winner of the prestigious Naumburg Award. Votapek has been featured 16 times as the Chicago Symphony’s guest soloist, has played with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Boston Pops, the Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, National Symphonies, and other top ensembles.
With eastern hemisphere concerto engagements stretching from London to Taiwan, he has also toured in Russia, Japan, and Korea. He has made a special commitment to Latin America, where he has toured for more than 42 years, performing repeatedly in Buenos Aires, Rio, Santiago, and other cities. He is equally celebrated as a solo recitalist throughout the United States and has performed repeatedly in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and the National Gallery in Washington. Guest appearances with the Juilliard, Fine Arts, New World, and Chester String quartets highlight his extensive chamber music experience.
Votapek was the soloist on Arthur Fiedler’s last Boston Pops recording, a Gershwin program released on CD by London Records and most recently available as a part of the Deutsche Grammophone CD titled “The Arthur Fiedler Legacy.” In recent years he has recorded prolifically for the Ivory Classics and Blue Griffin labels. On the former he recorded the complete Debussy Preludes, the complete Goyescas of Granados, and a collection of important 20th century works. On the latter there are “Votapek Plays Gershwin,” “The Votapeks from Mozart to Piazzolla,” and the complete works for piano and cello of Beethoven with cellist Suren Bagratuni. They have been critically acclaimed by "Grammophone," "American Record Guide," "International Piano," and "Fanfare" magazines.
His wife, Albertine, frequently joins him in two-piano and four-hand recitals. They have appeared in Buenos Aires under the auspices of the Mozarteum Argentino, on the Van Cliburn Series in Fort Worth, the Pabst Theatre Series in Milwaukee, and on many college campuses.
Votapek is now retired from Michigan State University, where he served as artist-in-residence for 36 years.
Derek Polischuk
Assistant Professor of Piano and Director of Piano Pedagogy
Phone: (517) 353-9043
E-mail: polischu@msu.edu
Pianist Derek Kealii Polischuk is assistant professor of piano and director of piano pedagogy at the Michigan State University College of Music. Praised as a “consummate keyboard artist” and an “important young talent,” Polischuk’s performances have gained critical acclaim in California, throughout the Midwest, and in Hawaii at the Prince Albert Chamber Music Festival on the island of Kauai. A prizewinner in the Carmel International Piano Competition, the California International Young Artists Competition, and the Edith Knox Performance Competition, Polischuk has appeared as concerto soloist with the La Jolla Symphony, the Peninsula Symphony, the San Diego Symphony, and the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra. Polischuk’s performances have been broadcast on public radio in Michigan and California.
Born in San Diego, he studied with Krzysztof Brzuza before attending the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music where he received Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees with distinction under the tutelage of renowned piano pedagogue and concert artist Daniel Pollack. Upon his graduation from the Thornton School in 2006, Polischuk was awarded the keyboard department award for Most Outstanding Graduate.
An enthusiastic supporter of the education of young musicians, he has presented at meetings of piano teachers in the United States and Canada including the Music Teachers' National Association. He has been a judge of piano competitions across the Midwest, and has mentored young students who have become prizewinners in local and state piano competitions. Polischuk’s writing can be found in the keyboard journal Clavier. At Michigan State University, he has developed a stimulating piano pedagogy curriculum that is anchored by the teacher-training program “Pianoissimo” in which piano pedagogy students have the opportunity to hone their private and group piano teaching skills while working with underserved young pianists from the Greater Lansing area. During summer months, he teaches courses for the Michigan State University Office of Study Abroad, most recently in Quebec City.
Before joining the MSU faculty, Polischuk was instructor of piano at the University of Southern California and at Long Beach City College. He has presented at meetings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on church music improvisation, and is currently a musician on staff at River Terrace Church, a large Christian Reformed Congregation in East Lansing Michigan.
Ray McLellan
University Carillonneur
Area(s):
Piano
Beaumont Tower
East Lansing, MI 48824
rm@msu.edu
(517) 432-4066
About:
Ray McLellan is the university carillonneur at Michigan State University College of Music.
He received a Bachelor of Arts from Florida Southern College, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), as well as a Certificate of Study from the Netherlands Carillon School. McLellan has had numerous performances in the United States and the Netherlands. He serves as organist at area churches, is a member of the American Guild of Organists, and has been appointed to the examination committee of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) to serve as an adjudicator for those who will become full carillonneurs.
Zhihua Tang
Assistant Professor in Collaborative Piano
Area(s):
Piano
404 Music Practice Building
East Lansing, MI 48824
tangzhih@msu.edu
About:
Zhihua Tang is assistant professor in collaborative piano at the Michigan State University College of Music.
Tang has enjoyed an active performing career around the world and has been praised for her extraordinary versatility and profound artistry on the piano. Over the years, she has collaborated with some of today’s leading musicians: violinists Joshua Bell, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Yuval Yaron, Robert Chen, Yoonshin Song, Emmanuelle Boisvert, and Yuan-Qing Yu; cellists Robert deMaine and Haiye Ni; violist Mahoko Eguchi; flutists Maxim Rubtsov and Jeff Zook; bassist Alexander Hanna; and oboist Dwight Parry. Her chamber music partners have included numerous principal players from many major symphony orchestras, such as New York Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and symphony orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, National, Detroit, Dallas, among others. Since 2011, she has performed frequently with Detroit Symphony Orchestra in many of its concert series. In May 2013, she has appeared in Carnegie Hall with the Detroit Symphony under Leonard Slatkin as part of Carnegie Hall’s annual Spring for Music Festival.
Tang was the top prize winner of the Beethoven Sonata Competition in Memphis, Tennessee and the Central Division of the MTNA Collegiate Artist Competition, Chopin Competition in Chicago. She has also received honorable mention at the XII International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland. As a concerto soloist, she has performed with many orchestras in different continents, including Detroit Civic Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Indiana University Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Ballet Orchestra, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra. In 2013, her performance of the Beethoven “Emperor” concerto with Detroit Civic Orchestra at Detroit Orchestra Hall was broadcast live on Detroit WRCJ radio station. As a recitalist, she has performed extensively across Europe, U.S., and Asia in major music venues such as Bösendorfer Hall in Vienna, Rackham Hall in Ann Arbor, Detroit Orchestra Hall, Beijing Zhongshan Music Hall, and Shanghai Centre Theatre.
She has held teaching positions at Alma College, Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, University of North Dakota, and Summer Music Camp at Bowling Green State University. As an avid advocate for music in the community, she has worked as chamber music coach in the Detroit Civic Youth Ensemble, one of the premier youth music organizations in the country. She has been frequently invited to give performances and master classes throughout United States and her native China.
A native of Shanghai, China, Tang began her piano studies at the age of five with her father. She attended the Shanghai Conservatory, where she was a recipient of the Fei Minyi Fellowship and Shen Xingong Scholarship. She received master of music degree from Indiana University as a scholarship student of Menahem Pressler. She later completed her DMA degree from Michigan State University College of Music under the tutelage of Deborah Moriarty. She has also worked with some of the most important pedagogues including Paul-Badura Skoda, Russell Sherman, Joseph Kalichstein, John Perry, Anton Kuerti, Martin Katz, Janos Starker, Elly Ameling, and Pamela Frank. Additionally, she has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Music Festival, Orford Music Center, and Gilmore Piano Festival.
Haobing Zhu
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Piano
Area(s):
Piano
East Lansing, MI 48824
About:
Haobing Zhu has been appointed adjunct assistant professor of piano in the MSU College of Music. She also serves as the assistant professor of piano at the music college of Shanghai Normal University.
As a winner of the MSU Collegiate Honors Competition, Zhu gave her New York debut at Carnegie Hall in April 2012. A graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, she studied with Jianzhong Wang, receiving her Master of Music degree in piano performance with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music with Wha Kyung Byun. As the recipient of the prestigious Catherine Herrick Cobb Fellowship, she earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University with Professor Deborah Moriarty. Teachers also include Langhuan Ye, Xiao Luo, and Qingfeng Chen.
Originally from China, Zhu gave her first public performance at Shanghai Concert Hall at age 12. The First Prize winner of the Shanghai Conservatory Mozart Concerto Competition (adjudicated by renowned pianist Fou Ts’ong), Zhu has won major prizes in the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, the Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, and the Kawai National Piano Competition. She has also appeared as soloist with the Jiangsu Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, she was invited to perform with the EOS Orchestra at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing. She has been featured in the concert series of Shanghai International Spring Music Festival, Shanghai Conservatory, Rising Star (Boston), Works by Christian Wolff at the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Encore concert series in Italy.
Zhu is passionate about promoting awareness of Chinese traditional music in American culture. Through her study in China and the U.S., she is increasingly aware of the importance of intercultural exchange and the importance and power of music to bridge cultural gaps and promote mutual understanding. She was the recipient of Michigan State University’s All-University Diversity Award. She also received the Individual Artist Grant from the Greater Lansing (Michigan) Arts Council.
